7 hours layover in Korea (ICN) ways to kill time?
 

In January 2012 I will have a 7ish hour layover from 5:15AM to 12:10pm on a Saturday. Are there any quick tours leaving from the airport or suggested ways to kill time? I am interested in leaving the airport for about 3 hours. Though unlikely, I thought I'd ask, instead of just assuming I had to sit and meditate for 7 hours to pass time. Thanks!

ICN is my fav airport to kill time in asia very pretty new free
cultural center where you can make handicrafts that is a tonne
of fun.Expensive and a hassle to tour out.Things are expensive
watch out for the infamous $12 bag of M&Ms.

www.sleepinginairports.net/asia/seoul.htm

You won't have enough time to leave the airport, but the good news is that this is one of the best airports around. There are free computers to use, comfortable seating, areas to get massages and tons of food and shops. The transit hotel is another option. You may enjoy taking a shower and sleeping for a few hours before your next flight.

No matter how nice the airport is, if I have 7 hours, I'll take the train out to central Seoul for a quick walk.

http://www.airport.kr/iiacms/pageWor...=1313158130049

Thanks for the quick and helpful responses! Would you count a country in your list of places you've visited if you only spend maybe 2 hours walking around it? I'm thinking I would :)

Here's a web page for transit tours from ICN:
http://visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_5_1.jsp

Of course you can count it, as long as you go through immigration and enter the country.

Here's what we did, with a little longer layover:
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...cn-layover.cfm

Here are the pix we took:
http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/p132604610

Enjoy your trip!

Check the opening time of the sights (palaces, etc.) you want to see. They may not open so early.

The airport is quite far from Seoul center, so check how long the train takes. The hotel drop-off bus takes an hour.

Otherwise, you can just hang out at the airport, and sample food and look at shops. And do some free craft activities provided by Korea tourism. But shops, etc. don't open so early in the morning either. I usuually just hang out in the Asiana lounge and get a chair massage.

I asked the same question in anticipation of a long layover last January. My first flight from Hanoi ended up delayed so we only had a few hours in the airport in Korea but it seemed like an easy place to kill time. There are tons of stores to browse and good people watching. We saw the desk for tours - I guess they go all the way to Seoul - can't remember now, possibly several options. But it was not open when we were there which was mid-morning.

So if you do end up staying in the airport for whatever reason there are good options for passing time and comfortable seating. Can't say the same for Hanoi where it was hovering around freezing temps in the terminal and NOTHING to do waiting many hours for a delayed flight. Not enough seats for everyone but they were flat metal and the most uncomfortable you could imagine so sitting wasn't really top of the list anyway. Walking laps around to keep circulation flowing was preferable. Oy. The airlines ended up handing out blankets to passengers waiting -

But i digress...enjoy your layover in ICN!

My outdated Lonely Planet thinks Incheon itself is worth a look and has a walking tour. I think if you contact the excellent Korean tourist office they'll send you info on tours from the airport.

When we had a long layover, we had thought about going into the city, however, when we realized how cold the temperatures outside would be that time of the year, we quickly changed our thinking. Be sure to bring heavy coats if you intend to leave the terminal.